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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Lilia Bliznashka

Lily Bliznashka is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Her research focuses on assessing the effectiveness of multi-input nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions and the mechanisms through which they work to improve maternal and child health and nutrition globally. She has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Neha Kumar

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Neha Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit at IFPRI. Neha is an economist by training and has an accumulated expertise that spans the diverse sectors of agriculture, social protection, gender, and nutrition-focused programs. Since joining IFPRI, she has been involved in several complex and multidimensional impact evaluations, including social protection programs like the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia, agriculture-nutrition interventions such as the HarvestPlus-funded biofortified Orange Sweet Potato program in Uganda and Mozambique and the Improved Vegetables and Fish Technology Intervention in Bangladesh. She has expertise and substantial experience with using state-of-the-art econometric techniques for impact evaluation. Neha holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Languages spoken: English, Hindi

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

Book Chapter

Social protection and gender: Policy, practice, and research

2026Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Florencia
Details

Social protection and gender: Policy, practice, and research

Gender considerations in the design and delivery of programs are critical for social protection to achieve its primary objectives of reducing poverty and vulnerability. First, prevalence and risk factors for poverty differ by gender, as does the nature of vulnerability. Thus, to sustainably reduce poverty for all, strategies must take gender into account. Second, gender shapes the impact of social protection. Not only are the effects of programs mediated by gender norms and intra house hold dynamics, but gender differences in opportunities, constraints, and preferences determine the extent to which dif fer ent individuals can participate in and benefit from social protection. Third, entrenched societal inequities imply that women and girls are often disproportionately held back from achieving their potential. Addressing these inequities through social protection may be particularly promising to achieve longer- term poverty- reduction goals, increase productive efficiency, and promote a better, more sustainable future. Lastly, to the extent that social protection intrinsically aims to increase equity, there may be an implicit mandate to prioritize women and girls.

Year published

2026

Authors

Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Florencia

Citation

Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; et al. 2026. Social protection and gender: Policy, practice, and research. In The Handbook of Social Protection: Evidence and New Directions for Low- and Middle-Income Countries, eds. Rema Hanna and Benjamin A. Olken. Section Seven: Challenges, Special Needs, and Solutions to Effective Delivery, Chapter 17, Pp. 287-304. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14927.003.0025

Keywords

Social Protection; Gender; Social Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14927.003.0025 Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Brief

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

2026Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; Hess, Sonja Y.; Aheeyar, Mohamed; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

Inadequate diets are a major contributor to malnutrition and the leading risk factor for morbidity and mortality worldwide. Low fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake contributes significantly to these burdens. F&Vs are essential sources of micronutrients, and their production has a lower environmental footprint compared to other nutrient-dense foods, making them critical for both health and sustainability. Despite these well-documented benefits, global F&V intake remains below the recommended 400 grams (about 5 servings) per person per day. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where less than 20% of adults meet this target. This is likely due to a complex interplay of factors including availability, affordability, accessibility, and other context-specific barriers. Narrowing F&V intake gaps requires a nuanced understanding of the interconnected factors influencing their consumption. The approach must be comprehensive and encompass addressing factors across the food system. Generating high-quality, context-specific evidence on these factors is essential to designing effective strategies that enhance F&V desirability, affordability, accessibility, and availability, ultimately supporting healthier, more sustainable diets.

Year published

2026

Authors

Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; Hess, Sonja Y.; Aheeyar, Mohamed; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; et al. 2026. Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach. FRESH Sri Lanka Research Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181539

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Fruits; Vegetables; Food Intake; Food Production; Project Evaluation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Preprint

Women’s perceptions of food safety risks and vendor practices in northern Tanzania: a mixed-methods analysis

2025
Singh, Nishmeet; Marshall, Quinn; Bliznashka, Lilia; Zakayo, Rachel; Mukasa, Lydia; Torres Chavez, Jose Luis; Malindisa, Evangelista; Jeremiah, Kidola; Kinabo, Joyce; Bellows, Alexandra L.
…more Olney, Deanna K.; Mwambi, Mercy; Wilson, Marisa; Jaacks, Lindsay M.; Kumar, Neha
Details

Women’s perceptions of food safety risks and vendor practices in northern Tanzania: a mixed-methods analysis

We know little about how women in Africa perceive and manage food safety risks for fruits and vegetables, and how these perceptions and practices influence their food choices. To investigate this, we employed a sequential mixed-methods analysis using data from 33 villages across the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions of Northern Tanzania. Quantitative household surveys were conducted with 2,577 women to document their perceptions of food safety risks associated with fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally, quantitative surveys assessing food safety facilities and practices were conducted in 14 markets and 108 retail outlets. These data informed the creation of food safety scores for women’s risk perceptions and village-level vendor characteristics. We used the scores to analyse their relationship with household-level consumption and expenditure on fruits and vegetables using mixed-effects regression models. Subsequently, ethnographic research involved in-depth exploration with women from three communities to investigate the factors shaping food safety risk perceptions and their connections to household practices and food choices. Our quantitative findings indicated that women’s perceptions of food safety were associated with household-level consumption and expenditure, while vendor safety characteristics were not. The qualitative insights revealed that social relations, community interactions, and trust were pivotal for women in managing food safety risks. Women used these to assess and address food safety risks. Women were also assisted in minimising risk through their roles as producers, sellers, and household managers. Our analysis highlights the importance of understanding consumer perceptions and their socio-cultural contexts in designing interventions that enhance food safety and promote healthier diets.

Year published

2025

Authors

Singh, Nishmeet; Marshall, Quinn; Bliznashka, Lilia; Zakayo, Rachel; Mukasa, Lydia; Torres Chavez, Jose Luis; Malindisa, Evangelista; Jeremiah, Kidola; Kinabo, Joyce; Bellows, Alexandra L.; Olney, Deanna K.; Mwambi, Mercy; Wilson, Marisa; Jaacks, Lindsay M.; Kumar, Neha

Citation

Singh, Nishmeet; Marshall, Quinn; Bliznashka, Lilia; Zakayo, Rachel; Mukasa, Lydia; et al. 2026. Women’s perceptions of food safety risks and vendor practices in northern Tanzania: A mixed-methods analysis. MedRXiv Preprint. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.17.25342242

Keywords

Tanzania; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Gender; Women; Food Safety; Retail Markets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.17.25342242 Source record

Record type

Preprint

Blogs

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems
Event Post
 | 
February 04, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems

By Julie Ghostlaw, Esha Sarswat, Shreya Chakraborty, Neha Kumar, Swetha Manohar, and Samuel Scott

Exploring the interconnectedness of food systems.

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries
Issue Post
 | 
April 28, 2020

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries

By Melissa Hidrobo, Neha Kumar, Tia Palermo, Amber Peterman, and Shalini Roy

Governments ramping up pandemic assistance programs must take care to see they don't widen inequalities. 

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future
Issue Post
 | 
April 22, 2020

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future

By Agnes Quisumbing, Neha Kumar, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Claudia Ringler

In low- and middle-income countries, women are key to practical efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus—but face many obstacles men do not.

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Events

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 2 to 4, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale

South Asia continues to face an enduring burden of malnutrition in all its forms—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and a steady increase in overweight and obesity and non-communicable diseases. Over 1 billion people in South Asia cannot afford a healthy diet. While many promising solutions have emerged, translating them into sustained, large-scale impact remains a challenge. This […]

IFPRI @ CGIAR Science Week
IFPRI at External Event

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April 7 to 12, 2025

IFPRI @ CGIAR Science Week

When humanity has faced its greatest challenges, science and innovation have provided solutions. Today, major and connected global challenges threaten the sustainability of food, land, and water systems, with the most vulnerable people and communities at greatest risk. Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, CGIAR and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) are […]

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 3 to 5, 2024

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems

South Asia grapples with escalating levels of malnutrition in various forms, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, alongside increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases. Malnutrition results from a complex interplay of factors incorporating household and individual decision-making, agriculture and food systems, healthcare services, education, and socio-ecological systems that determine access to services and […]

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